IT was the search for plants that hornbills feed on which brought Navendu Page, a botanist and wildlife expert, to the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. Dr Aparajita Datta, a senior scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation, was studying hornbills with her student, and needed a helping hand.
“Hornbills are predominantly fruit-eating birds. Almost 60 to 70 percent of their diet consists of fruits. The Northeast, and Pakke in particular, has three or four species of hornbills. Although Aparajita had identified many plants the birds feed on, they never had a botanist go there and formally identify. . .
